IPO update: ASK receives 51 times bids on Day 3; TBO Tek files DRHP with SEBI

The initial public offering (IPO) market continues to experience a surge in new offerings as firms are lined up to raise funds through public offering to encash an abundance of liquidity in the stock market. In a fresh development, online travel distribution platform TBO Tek has filed draft papers with the capital markets regulator SEBI for fundraising via IPO. Meanwhile, the public issue of auto ancillary firm ASK Automotive was subscribed more than 51% on the final day of bidding.

ASK IPO gets overwhelming response  

The ₹834-crore IPO of ASK Automotive, which is completely an offer for sale by promoters Kuldip Singh Rathee and his wife, Vijay Rathee, was booked 51.14 times on the last day of the bidding on the back of an overwhelming response from investors, particularly institutional buyers. The offer received bids for 105.85 crore shares against the issue size of 2.06 crore shares.

The portion reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIB) was booked 142.4 times, while the quota for non-institutional investors (NII) and retail investors subscribed 35.5% and 5.7 times, respectively. The company had reserved up to half of the public issue size for QIBs, 15% for NIIs, and the remaining 35% for retail investors, per the document filed with the SEBI.

ASK had set the IPO price band at ₹268-282 per share and the lot size was 53 equity shares and in multiples thereafter. The minimum application amount for retail investors was ₹14,946 for 1 lot, and a maximum of ₹194,298 for 13 lots.

Ahead of the IPO, ASK raised ₹250.2 crore from anchor investors by allotting 88,71,416 equity shares to 25 anchor investors, including 6 mutual funds, at ₹282 per share. The marquee anchor investor who participated in the anchor book included  Morgan Stanley, Copthall Mauritius, Goldman Sachs, Societe General, BNP Paribas, LC Radiance Fund, Integrated Core Strategies, Turnaround Opportunities Fund, Bajaj Allianz, Abakkus, Edelweiss, 3P India, Canara Rebeco, ICICI Prudential Life, Tata Mutual Fund, Florida Retirement, Neuberger Bermann, NHIT Global, SBI Life, Nippon Life India, etc.

Established in 1988, ASK Automotive claims to be the largest manufacturer of brake-shoe and advanced braking systems for two-wheeler in India. The company’s product range includes AB systems, aluminium lightweight precision, wheel assembly for two-wheelers, and safety control cables. As of June 2023, the company has 15 manufacturing units spread across five states in India.

TBO Tek to raise fund via IPO

TBO Tek Limited, a travel distribution platform, has filed a preliminary document with the SEBI for an IPO proposing to raise funds through issue of equity share and offer for sale by existing shareholders.

The issue comprises fresh issue of equity shares worth up to ₹400 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 15,635,996 equity shares of face value ₹ 1 each.

The OFS part will see promoters Gaurav Bhatnagar, Manish Dhingra, and LAP Travel, as well as investors TBO Korea, and Augusta TBO offloading their stake in the company.

TBO proposes to utilise the net proceeds from the fresh issue towards growth and strengthening of the platform by adding new buyers and suppliers, unidentified inorganic acquisitions and general corporate purposes.

Founded in 2006, the Gurugram-based B2B travel service provider is one of the leading players in the global travel and tourism industry, providing services to buyers and suppliers in over 100 countries (as of June 30, 2023) with a comprehensive travel inventory.

TBO platform connects over 147,000 buyers across more than 100 countries with over one million suppliers, as of June 30, 2023, offering 7,500+ destinations and facilitates 33,000 bookings per day through their platform. The platform allows the large and fragmented base of suppliers to display and market inventory to, and set prices for, the large and fragmented global buyer base. For buyers, the platform is an integrated, multi-currency and multi-lingual one-stop solution that helps them discover and book travel for destinations worldwide, across various travel segments such as leisure, corporate and religious travel.

TBO operates in the global travel and tourism market that stood at $1.7 trillion in 2017. In 2023 the travel and tourism industry is estimated to recover at pace, growing 18.2% year-on-year from 2022 to reach $1.9 trillion, and expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.2% to reach $2.6 trillion in 2027.